Providing for the Common Defense

The safety and security of the American people is the first responsibility of the federal government.

The U.S. military is threatened by an uncontrolled debt burden that weakens America – but defense spending is not the driver of that debt burden.

Despite this fact, the President’s budget refuses to address runaway entitlement spending, and instead imposes nearly $500 billion in defense cuts over the next decade.

This budget funds defense at levels that keep America safe by providing $554 billion for the next fiscal year – $6.2 trillion over the next decade – for national defense spending, an amount that is consistent with America’s military goals and strategies.

This budget replaces the indiscriminate reduction in defense spending scheduled to take place under the sequester with targeted reductions in non-defense mandatory spending. This protects defense from cuts that would jeopardizes critical missions and the well-being of soldiers and their families.

America’s troops and military families should not pay the price for Washington’s failure to take action.